Page 86 of The Sweet Life

“Bah, sneaking around in the middle of the night? Hiding in the shadows? She should be proud of her talent. She should own it, claim it. Show the world who she is, a beautiful, strong woman who has nothing to hide.”

“Nonna.” Lila reached for her arm. “I think we should practice how you’re going to act when Gia reveals her mural to you.” Lila circled her face with her finger. “Show me your surprised face? Nonna, that’s what Mom would call your constipated face.”

Carmen raised her hands palms out, widened her eyes, and let her mouth drop open.

“Uh, no, just no.” Lila tapped her finger on her lips. “Okay, pretend Bruno has come up behind you and surprised you.” She shuddered at Carmen’s impression of her surprise. “That’s a hard no.”

Carmen clutched her chest. “Madonna santa, I’m going to have a heart attack.”

“Nonna, what’s wrong? Should I get you a glass of water?”

“No! That was me acting surprised.”

“No, Nonna, that is what you do whenever you get news that you don’t like and want to guilt us into changing it. You’re a big faker.”

“Sometimes si, sometimes no.” She sighed. “Let’s go. I can hear them whispering, all excited.”

“Do not roll your eyes.”

“Okay.” She made a face.

“Don’t do that either.”

“You’re so bossy, just like your mother. But I made that face because I remembered you were filming live.” She nodded at the camera and whispered, “You were right. I don’t want my Gia to hear me talking about her like that. Can we delete it or something?”

“I love you, but you taught us to follow our gut, and my gut said do not, no matter what Nonna says, film her on Instagram Live.”

She patted her cheek. “My girls, you’ve all grown up so smart. I’m proud of you, of all of you.”

“That look right there. All you need to do is look at Zia Gia that way, and you’ll make her day.”

“Okay, I can do that.” She rubbed her chest as she walked down the stairs onto the beach, rehearsing what she’d say toher daughter. She wouldn’t hurt Gia for the world, so she’d do like Lila said and keep her mouth shut and let her love for her daughter shine from her eyes. Yes, she could manage that, she thought, taking the worn path to where her family stood waiting for her.

A huge black tarp covered the side of the restaurant. Flynn stood with Gia, his arms around her from behind, whispering in her ear, making her smile. Flynn could tell her daughter was nervous, and so could Carmen.

“Are you ready for your big surprise, Ma?” Eva, standing with her husband, James, nudged her head in Gia’s direction and mouthed,Say something.

“Si, si, that’s me, excited.” Madonna santa.

Cami was standing with Hugh—Gia and Eva had driven to New York City last weekend and had basically kidnapped the handsome director and the love of her daughter’s life. This was the first Carmen had seen of the couple. They’d spent the entire week gettingreacquaintedat the beach house, and Carmen had a good feeling that they would go the distance this time and her daughter would get the happily-ever-after she deserved.

Cami looked at Carmen with acrapolaexpression on her face and took a step in her direction.

Bruno patted Cami’s arm. “I’ve got this, bella.” He smiled at Carmen and took her hand in his, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “You don’t have to worry, amore mio dolce.” My sweet love. “I’ve got you.”

“You do.” She stroked his cheek. “I love you.”

“And you’ll really love me tonight.” He waggled his silver eyebrows at her. “Or I should say you’ll really love OfficerBruno. I’m picking up my uniform before we open, so let’s get this show on the road.”

Carmen laughed, and the tension left her body. She turned her smiling eyes on Gia, who was laughing along with everyone else. Bruno had made sure they’d heard him, even though she knew he had been embarrassed that the girls had discovered they enjoyed a little role-playing. “You are a good, good man,” she said, and kissed his cheek.

“I am, otherwise you wouldn’t have finally agreed to set a wedding date.” He got acrapolalook on his face, but hey, it served to delay her daughter’s big reveal a little longer, as everyone wanted details.

While they were distracted, Carmen tiptoed to the side of the restaurant and reached for the edge of the tarp.

A familiar voice said, “Uh-uh, no peeking.”

She turned to see Sage and Jake smiling at her. “You two, you don’t miss a thing, do you?”

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